From Here to Eternity: Beginnings
by WS6-TA
Summary: Ashley wasn't the only survivor of Eden Prime. Two others made it and they want revenge, luckily they've caught the attention of Commander Shepard. Join their adventure as they get settled on the Normandy, fight Geth, and maybe even fall in love.
1. Chapter 1

Eden Prime, one of the first planets to be colonized by the quickly growing humans, glowed beautifully in the rising sun. Clear skies stretched as far as the eye could see, and the rich vegetation illuminated a healthy green. It was the kind of beauty poets dreamed of experiencing only if to draw inspiration. Sadly it was all lost on a the platoon of Alliance soldiers assigned to guard the colony. Normally new colonies only had a few squads on guard detail but the recent excavation of a Prothean artifact caught the attention of the higher ups of the military. Prothean technology was the most sought after resource in the galaxy as they were more advanced than anything in the galaxy thus far. With the Batarian relations already in the dumps, the Alliance felt extra security was necessary if only to discourage an attack. It had been a couple weeks since the beacon was unearthed and a lot of the soldiers were getting restless. Two soldiers, in particular, were getting rather annoyed with their commanding officer's insistence that their presence here was necessary. Lieutenant Brady Daniels and Sergeant Logan Lerman had only signed on to stop slaver attacks on Elysium, but ever since Commander Shepard's heroic actions, the attacks had ceased and the two were assigned with watching over the colonists of Eden Prime. The Alliance didn't under appreciate their talents, though, just that they felt they would serve the colonies better than on the battlefields in the more contested areas of the Terminus system. Lt. Daniels, 6'1" with the traditional military hair cut and five o'clock shadow, was regarded as one of the best snipers the Alliance had ever seen, though his loud mouth attitude often getting him into trouble kept him from raising further in the ranks despite his young age of 22. His rifle of choice: a M-92 Mantis. Both his parents and his grandpa on his dad's side were in the military before him, which served as his inspiration to join. Sgt. Lerman, 6'3", age 23, and preferring his hair to be buzzed short and clean shaved face, shattered the M35 Mako course record at 3 minutes and 12 seconds with the former record being 4 minutes and 47 seconds. His primary weapon of choice: a M**-**76Revenant rifle with a modified barrel to give it extra power. His dad, Admiral Floyd Lerman, heavily suggested he join the Alliance like his older brother, Lucas. After much debating, Logan relented and signed up with his childhood friends Brady and Stephen Dox. Stephen was shipped off to a different unit and was serving on a ship assigned to guarding Elysium.

The two were currently having lunch on top of the only Mako their unit possessed. There were four soldiers from the platoon that held certification to operate the Mako, but with Logan's record everyone accepted his claim of "ownership". The pair shot the shit as they watched the colonist milling about working on this or that.

"I cannot wait until our CO's decide to get their asses in gear and get that Prothean thing out of here. I'm tired of being on guard duty," Brady complained to his long time companion for the millionth time that day.

Logan just smirked and swallowed the bite of food he had been chewing while shaking his head.

"What you enjoy this crap?" the Lt asked with an astonished look on his face.

"Not in particular, no. You're just funny, that's all. Anyway I heard that there is an Alliance ship scheduled to make a pickup today, so quit whining" Logan answered with a chuckle as he returned to his MRE.

"You said yourself you're ready to be out of here," Brady countered unfastening his canteen to take a swig of water.

Logan shrugged "Yeah, I did. I'm also not going to turn down extra pay for doing easy shit like this,"

Brady nodded in agreement "Yeah, I hear that, but come on this is getting boring,"

"Just think of it as extended paid leave, only you have to wear armor and follow the regs," Logan said, smirking at his partner's annoyed look.

"Yeah, they have a name for that, it's called WORK!" he countered causing Logan to crack up.

The Sgt's laughter was cut dead when a deep earsplitting siren blared through the morning sky. Every soldier immediately dropped what they were doing and cast their gazes to the sky. Soldier and colonist alike gasped in astonishment as a massive ship dropped from sky.

"The fuck is that?" a soldier souted. Before anyone could react the long distance radio crackled to like

"Bravo Camp! This is Commander Woods, requesting backup! We are under attack by an unknown enemy. I repe-" the sudden cut off stuns the crew momentarily. Suddenly their CO, Captain Ryman, started barking out orders.

"Corporal Ross, get your squad to their position and provide support. Sgt Lerman take the Mako and flank the opposition. Lt Daniels and Private Biggins you're with him. Let's move people!"

Logan clambered inside to the Mako's driver seat and fired up the engine and proceeded to power up the shields and weapon systems. Brady and Pvt Jake Biggins scrambled in as well and waited for instruction. While Brady outranked Logan, he was in the Sgt's world and he wasn't too proud to admit that Logan knew better than him inside the Mako.

"Brady, I need you on the gun. Jake get on the terminal and keep the shields up,"

Brady nodded and jumped onto the gun controls and began familiarizing himself with them. Jake threw out a hasty "Yes, sir!" and booted up the secondary terminal to monitor the tank's shields. The tank's radio began picking multiple transmissions from around the colony requesting backup.

"What the hell? How did they slip past our orbital scanners?" Jake asked.

Brady locked the navigation computer onto a nearby signal "You're the tech guy, you tell us,"

"Eden Prime has top of the line scanners, there's nothing it shouldn't pick up," Jake replied his voice wavering a bit.

"Well we'll find out soon enough!" Logan proclaimed as he punched the accelerator and turned the controls to the direction of the signal Brady selected "Echo squad, this is Sgt. Lerman, we're coming your way with heavy support, eta five minutes,"

As they sped towards their target, Jake noticed many of the SOS signals dropping off the radar, meaning their forces were falling. The Mako took a jump and as they landed the trio caught sight of their enemy for the first time. It was a gray mechanical bipedal figure with a cylinder head that had light protruding from a circle on the front. The synthetic turned towards approaching vehicle and raised it's weapon to fire, but before it could get a shot off Brady fired a round from the cannon, completely eviscerating the hostile.

"What are those things?" Logan cried out as more popped into view.

"Geth, I think," Jake replied, working to keep the shields up as rounds peppered the Mako.

"Bullshit, the Geth don't venture out beyond the Veil!" Brady proclaimed through gritted teeth, his hands already become sore from the vibrations of the machine gun popping off rounds at an immense pace.

"Tell them that, then!" Logan shouted. The Mako bounced slightly as the Sgt ran down a few of the Geth troopers. A sudden alarm blared out through the cabin.

"Now what?" Brady shouted.

"They deployed mines," Logan replied darting his eyes from the view port to the terminal indicating where the offending explosives were placed "Jake, beef up the shields," . The Mako rounded a bend and came across a couple of red Geth much larger than the rest.

"Wow! Those things are huge!" Jake shouted, momentarily disregarding his terminal.

"Not big enough!" Logan responded as he plowed them over at full speed. The sound of metal on metal drowned out the gunfire for a second. Unfortunately one of the Geth got lodged between the rear, right axel and the underside of the Mako, throwing the tank off balance. As the Sgt foguht to control the vehicle, it rolled over a Geth mine and the explosion nearly sent the tank onto it's back.

"Shit!" Logan cried and stopped the Mako "We need to dislodge that thing. Jake, grab the fusion cutter and help me, Brady, cover us,"

The hatch popped open to reveal the advancing synthetics getting mowed down by the Mako's maching gun'/cannon combination. The pair scrambled out and scrambled back to the obstruction.

Jake assessed the situation for a second "That thing's lodged in there pretty good, I don't know if I can get it out without cutting anything vital,"

Logan stuck his head under to get a better look "Cut the sway bar here and it should drop out,"

"Won't that affect the handling?" Jake asked while firing up the cutter.

"It's either than or sit here until we are overwhelmed, besides I can handle it," Logan responded firing a burst at the coming Geth forces. Sparks flew out from under the tank as the private got to work cutting away at the area Logan indicated. The bullets pinging off the hull around him didn't help his already wavering confidence. Three rounds bounced off his shield, causing him to twitch and slice into his own hand. Being a tech guy he was used to bloody knuckles, it came with the job, so he gritted his teeth and continued. After a minuted the sway bar and Geth body dropped, Jake pulled himself out from underneath the Make "It's ou-" four rounds took him in the chest, dropping him back against the wheel.

"Jake!" Logan cried out dropping next to the private and administrating medi-gel "Shit!" the Sgt pulled out his sidearm and fired wildly at the enemy as he dragged Jake back to the hatch. After dumping the private back behind the terminal he climbed in himself.

Brady looked down to see blood pooling in the seat Jake was sitting it "Biggins! You with us?"

Jake weakly turned to look up at Brady "Yeah.. I'm still...I'm okay,"

"You're gonna make it kid, just hold on!" Logan shouted back as he hit the gas, fighting to keep control of the tank "Echo squad do you read? This is Sergeant Lerman, I've got wounded. We need a medic. Anybody copy?" static was the only reply, which angered Logan into punching the radio "Fuck!"

An explosion rocked the Mako, completely depleting the shields. On the cliff side a squad of Geth rocket troopers fired down at the already crippled tank. One of the rockets hit right behind the left, middle wheel, damaging the back left wheel enough to cause a massive wobble.

"As if this thing wasn't hard enough to drive!" Logan shouted in frustration, then he noticed his computer blinking a warning "Brady don't overheat the gun!"

"Dammit!" came the Lt's response as he let off the trigger "We give them an inch and they'll take a mile,"

"They'll take the whole damn colony if we burn out the barrel," the Sgt responded "How you holding up, Biggins?" when no reply came, Logan turned his head around "Jake!". The private's was limp and his head was bouncing around as the Mako rolled over rough terrain.

Brady jumped down from the gunner's seat and brought up his omni-tool to scan "He passed out, but he's losing blood fast," once again the computer blared out an alarm, but at a different tone "Now what?"

Logan's eyes widened at the sight of a ship lowering down in the distance "Look! It has Alliance markings, it must be reinforcements,"

Brady couldn't help but laugh a bit "Get to them, they'll have a med bay,"

Logan nodded and sped towards the area the ship had touched down, then his heart sank as he saw it rise to the sky again "No!" he hastily reached over and activated the radio "SSV aircraft, this is Sergeant Lerman, requesting assistance. Please respond!" once again static was the reply.

Brady jumped back to the gunner seat and continued to fire upon the incoming Geth "Head back to the excavation site, if anybody's left they'll be protecting that," he ordered.

Logan sighed somberly "If that ship didn't extract it,"

"They weren't grounded long enough for that," he replied.

As they approached the dig site, the Geth forces mercifully thinned out, giving the team a break. Unmercifully the terrain became bad enough that the going was slow for the damaged tank. Just before rounding the bend to the site they spotted freshly killed Geth.

"You think someone made it back?" Logan asked as they rolled by a group of synthetic corpses that had been blown apart.

Brady sighed as he observed the surroundings "We can only hope. Park up there, it'll give us an overlook of the area,"

Logan steered over towards the edge of a cliff Brady had indicated. The two piled out and walked to edge, their spirits dropped as smoke bellowed from the all nearby camps. The Lt unfolded his Mantis and started to scan the area, suddenly he spotted three figures making their way through an open area heading in the direction of the docks. "I see someone! Three humans, two females one male,"

"Let's go, then. One of them might be a medic," Logan said frantically, then turned and ran back to the Mako,"

Brady followed suit and the Sgt powered the tank on faster than what was safe for the condition of the vehicle.

/

/

Commander Jane Shepard, a young attractive redhead, stood at the head of her three man squad, including long-time friend Kaidan Alenko and newcomer Ashley Williams. The Commander was an N7 graduate and hero of Elysium after repelling Batarian slavers. This assignment was supposed to be nothing more than a pickup, but had quickly gone south as they discovered the Geth attacking the colony. As the trio made their way across open ground they came under fire from the synthetics. Taking cover she tossed a grenade over the top of the rock she was using and used the distraction of the explosive to jump next to Alenko.

"I count about twenty, Ma'm," he reported as his body glowed blue before energy burst from his hands throwing several Geth back.\

"Not good, I'm low on thermal clips and I just used my last grenade," Shepard replied popping up from cover and firing her M-8 Avenger in short controlled bursts.

A couple meters away Ashley blew the head off a Geth with her M-97 Viper "Too many of them,"

Before Shepard could reply, her ears picked up the sound of an engine gradually growing louder. The Geth either didn't notice or didn't care because they continued to focus their fire on the unlucky trio. Suddenly a Mako came flying over the hill top into a nose dive. Before the tank landed the cannon fired taking out a group of Geth. The Mako's momentum, combined with an awkward landing, caused it to roll several times over majority of the sythetics before coming to a halt on it's back. Reacting wuickly, Shepard and the others popped out of cover and mopped up the remaining synthetics.

"Think they're alive?" Kaidan asked as they cautiously approached the capsized tank.

Ashley rushed forward "They better be," she replied anxiously.

/

/

Inside the Mako Logan stirred and ignoring the pounding in his head called back in the cabin while still laying on his back"You guys alright back there?"

"I'm good," came Brady's groaned reply.

"Biggins?" Logan asked. Brady belly crawled to Jake and scanned the private's body with the omni-tool and shook his head in grief.

Logan's breathing grew heavy and he punched the floor "Dammit!" he cried out fighting tears.

The hatch popped open and the two soldiers raised their sidearms in defense.

"Friendlies!" cried a female voice and instinctively the two lowered their weapons. A woman with black hair appeared in the doorway and scanned the inside "You guys alright?"

Brady indicated Logan and himself "We are, but that one didn't make it,"

The woman gave them a knowing look of sympathy and offered her hand to help them out which Brady took. As Logan made his way towards the open hatch he picked the Jake's dog tags off his body, but as he reached the opening another woman appeared, this one a red head. Like the dark haired woman she offered her hand which the Sgt took.

Once outside Logan took stock of his surroundings and noticed the group of slaughtered synthetics.

The red head noticed his observations "Your timing was perfect, we were in trouble before you showed up,"

Logan shook his head continued to stare at the bodies "No, it was far from perfect, we lost a man trying to get to you,"

Shepard put a hand on the Sgt's shoulder "We lost a man too," She removed her hand and held out towards Logan "Commander Jane Shepard,"

Logan shook the proffered hand "Sergeant Logan Lerman, and that's Lieutenant Brady Daniels,"

The Commander turned to shake the Lt's hand "Kaidan Alenko and Ashley Williams," she said indicating the respective soldiers.

"Were you guys apart of that ship that landed a while ago?" Brady piped up.

"The Normandy? Yeah, I'm the XO," Shepard replied "We were supposed to be picking up a Prothian artifact, but it's been moved to the docks,"

"If any of our squad is left, they could be there," Logan suggested "Mind if we fall in?"

"We could use all the help we can get," Shepard responded "Come on let's get to the docks and kick these robotic bastards off our planet,"

* * *

"Hoorah!" was Brady's contribution.

**A/N First chapter done, please tell em what you think! Sorry for little mistakes.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N- Just a little disclaimer: I will not be following game dialogue to the exact letter for two reasons. 1- The presence of new characters poses new dialogue options and 2- It's been a while since I've played the first game so I don't know it by heart**

**/\/\/**

"Commander, it's Nihlus," Kaidan indicated the figure laying in a pool if it's own blood. The team of five had moved from the open field, through the excavation site, and onto the docks without much problems. The few husks and Geth along the way were no match for the angry Alliance soldiers. The most significant pause in the trek had been when they spotted the massive ship taking off in the distance.

"Oh, no," Shepard muttered as they neared the downed Turian. As the group crowded around the corpse, it was no mystery to the cause of death, a bullet to the head.

"I thought you said he was a spectre? Then how was killed so easily," Ashley pointed out. When she met Shepard, the commander had asked if she'd seen the Turian. Kaidan described Nihlus as _'Carrying enough firepower to stop a whole platoon'_, so the idea of one bullet taking out a spectre was unsettling to say the least.

From where he was kneeling Brady spoke up "The entry point of the wound is the back of his head, so either he was snuck up on, or he let his guard down,"

"You're right. Still doesn't make sense, though. He has the most advanced scanners out of all of us. Plus he's a spectre on a mission, he wouldn't let his guard down," Shepard said. Before anyone could conjure up any theories the sound of an object clatter brought the team back on alert.

"Over there, behind those crates!" Williams called out and the team shifted their aim to the small opening between the boxes.

After a second of nothing Logan shouted out "This is the Systems Alliance, show yourself, NOW!"

A male civilian popped into view with his hand raised "Don't shoot, I'm one of you!" the team lowered their weapons but kept them at the ready. As Shepard interrogated the distraught man Brady scanned the way ahead with his rifle. He could see a few Geth milling about down some stairs and two drones hovering just ahead, thankfully they hadn't been spotted yet.

Lowering his rifle the Lt nudged Logan with his elbow and nodded his head towards the Geth "Looks like we're gonna have company, you want to go deal with this now?"

Lerman looked back to the other three who were still questioning the survivor "I don't know man, shouldn't we wait for them?"

"We can clear the way before they get done with him," Brady persisted "It'll be quicker in the long run,"

Knowing how stubborn his friend can be Logan sighed "Alright, fine. Let's go," and switched out the Revenant for his M-22 Eviscerator shotgun "Let's get in close before starting the party, catch them by surprise,"

The two slipped away from the group without the other three noticing and snuck down the stairs out to the loading area. Before they could be spotted the duo dropped into cover. Both held their breaths and fire until a Geth trooper wondered too near their cover, whereas Brady nodded to Logan who popped out of cover and blew the synthetic's head off. As the Sgt dropped back down Brady swung around the side of the cover, sighted down a Geth rocket trooper and dropped it with a well placed head shot. While the Geth were scrambling for cover, the two humans advanced to the next available cover and proceeded to systematically pick apart the Geth opposition.

"Yeah! This is payback bitches!" Brady shouted as he eliminated another synthetic.

"For Jake!" Logan added blowing a melon sized hole in the chest of a trooper. A low whirring noise caught his attention and he about faced to find a drone zeroing in on him. Before the synthetic could fire Logan blasted it to pieces with quick shotgun work "That was close,"

"Look out!" Brady suddenly shouted. Out of the corner of Logan's eye he spotted movement, but before he could react five shots impacted him, three of them bouncing off his shields, and 2 of them penetrating his armor and skin. With a grunt of pain Logan collapsed to the concrete, struggling to breathe. His hud blared, informing him that his armor's medical interface had kicked in and administered medi-gel to the offending areas. The drone swooped down to finish him off but was blown out of the sky before it could do so. The Sgt was too focused on breathing to notice a figure drop down next to him until it called his name.

"Logan! How bad is it?" Brady asked as he brought up his omni-tool to scan. Before Logan could reply a Geth trooper stepped around the corner and raised it's weapon. A barrage of bullets tore the synthetic apart and sent a second advancing Geth back into cover. Looking up from the wounded Brady caught sight of Shepard and the others charging to their position.

"What the hell were you two thinking? How bad is he?" Shepard asked not bothering to wait on an answer for her former question.

Brady fired upon the enemy before responding "He'll need medical attention but he should be fine for a while, they missed anything vital,"

Ashley's sniper fire finished off the Geth in the immediate area giving the team a momentary breather. The medi-gel had numbed the pain enough that at least Logan could stand with Kaidan helping him.

Shepard surveyed the pair before deciding that it would have to do "Let's move,"

The group boarded a tram that would take them to the loading port. Logan nearly fell as the tram took off and Kaidan had to use his biotics to keep the two from falling, which caused Logan to grunt in pain.

Shepard scanned the Sgt's body as they moved, a look of sympathy crossing her face for the young man. Then turned her gaze on Brady, who recoiled slightly at the fire in her eyes "Don't EVER run off like that again. You wait for the team. Understood?"

"Yes, ma'am," he replied professionally. He knew when to keep smart ass remarks to himself.

The rest of the trip passed uneventfully and as team stepped off the tram they noticed a bomb counting down at their feet.

"Hurry, we need to find them all and shut them down!" Ashley yelled out. Shepard dropped down and a few seconds later the bomb was disarmed. She then nodded at the stairs and as the team took off up them they came under fire from more Geth, causing them to drop into cover. With four healthy soldiers the Geth fell easily and the team moved on. At the next demolition charge, Kaidan set Logan down next to it.

"Shut it down, Sergeant, we'll cover you!" Shepard ordered. Despite not being incredibly tech savvy, Logan set to work disarming the bomb, using the knowledge from his explosive defusing course. After a few seconds the timer clicked off, indicating it was disarmed. With the Geth in the immediate area cleared the group pressed on for a couple of meters to the next bomb, where Logan set about disarming it again. After all bombs had been successfully neutralized the team made their way towards the stairs and they could see the beacon glowing in the distance. At the bottom of the stairs a couple of Geth ambushed the team, getting a few shots off on Ashley who dove for cover. Brady was able to take one out with a burst from his Vindicator before following suit. Suddenly three husks came running from around the crates that the Geth had popped out from behind. With his free hand Kaidan biotically threw one of the husks off the ledge, but before he could charge up another attack, he, and Logan consequently, were swarmed by the other two. Ashley and Brady were too busy trading fire with more Geth, who had been further down the way, to help, so Shepard rushed forward switching to her pistol to avoid collateral damage. Kaidan shoved Logan away to free up his movement and the Sgt hobbled back to stairs and yanked out his own pistol. The trio fired away with their sidearms, and it almost wasn't enough as they all spent their clips taking them down. As the last husk fell, another came dashing up behind Shepard and swung it's arms in a melee attack which floored the Commander. Before it could fall one her, Logan used his remaining strength to jump forward and tackle the offender. The two rolled of the ground before the husk gained the upper hand but before it could attack it was surrounded by blue light and started to float away as if gravity no longer affected it. Another blue ball impacted it's mid section and the husk flew a few meters away and off the ledge. Logan glanced over to Kaidan to catch the blue energy fading from his body.

"Thanks, Alenko," Logan said as he picked himself off the floor.

As the Sgt took a step forward his knee buckled and he toppled, but was immediately caught by Shepard "And thank YOU, for getting it off me," she proclaimed with a smile. They turned to see Ashley and Brady striding towards them, holstering their weapons.

"Are all hostiles eliminated?" Shepard asked, shifting a bit to support Logan more comfortably.

Brady nodded and grinned "Yeah we took care of them while you guys were having a group hug,"

"Jealous, Lt Daniels?" Shepard joked back with a smirk.

Brady tossed his bead back and laughed, slightly relieved that the Commander had a sense of humor "Not at all, ma'm, I'm not into devil threesomes, haha!"

Logan started to crack up, which immediately caused him to flinch in pain "God dammit, Brady,"

Shepard chuckled a bit and looked at the Sgt "Well I think I like you more than him,"

"Most do, ma'am," Logan replied with a grin as his face started to flush red "As long as I can remember,"

Brady's response was mock laughter as he turned to the beacon "So this thing, huh?"

"Great subject change," Logan muttered.

Shepard's face turned serious. This thing was the cause of all this death and destruction. From visual observation she couldn't see the value of the artifact, sure the way it threw off a greenish glow was pretty but she doubted the Geth, or that Saren fellow the dock worker told her about, cared for such things.

"Normandy,we've secured the beacon and we're ready for pickup," Shepard said into her comms as she watched Alenko, Williams, and Daniels conversing near the beacon. After getting a reply she shut her radio off. Ashley and Brady had walked back to the two and were now chatting with the Sergeant. Back at the beacon Alenko gotten too close and suddenly he felt like he was being pulled towards the artifact and no matter how hard he tried, could not break the grip. Shepard noticed and dropped Logan, who yelped in pain, and dashed to Kaiden and ripped him free of the invisible force but consequently got caught in the pull herself and suddenly was lifted into the air. Images of destruction filled her mind and a deafening whirring noise drowned out all other sound.

Kaiden made to run back to the Commander "Shepard!"

Brady and Ashley both had to restrain him "Don't touch her, it's too dangerous!" Ashley shouted.

The four watched helplessly as Shepard twitched in mid-air. Before too long the beacon exploded, knocking the commander unconscious and throwing her onto her back in front of the squad. Kaiden broke free of Ashley and Brady and ran to the Commander's side.

Brady picked Logan off the ground as the other two tended to the unconscious woman and noticed he was bleeding again.

"The medi-gel wore off didn't it?" Brady asked.

"Yeah, a while ago actually. The fall must have agitated it," Logan explained through gritted teeth and ragged breaths. The Normandy didn't take long, thankfully, and as soon as the ramp dropped Ashley and Kaidan picked up the Commander and carried her up as an aging dark-skinned man appeared at the entrance.

"Get her to the med-bay," the man ordered before turning his eyes on Brady and Logan "You two better come as well,"

Even with help from Brady, the steep ramp of the Normandy was a difficult obstacle for the injured soldier, and before he made it a quarter way up he felt a second person shoulder his arm and assist him up. Looking to his left he saw that it was the CO of the Normandy "Thank you, sir," he gasped out.

"Save your energy," the CO gently reprimanded Logan.

The elevator to the next floor had returned by the time the three made their way up to it's door. Another soldier stepped forward to relieve Brady. The CO, who introduced himself as Captain Anderson, informed him that he could get out of his armor and turn in his weapons to be stripped and cleaned. As he undressed, he glanced around at the unusual ship. This was supposedly a hangar, but was twice as small as the hangars in other Alliance freighters. He did notice that a single Mako sat hooked up to a terminal, that would at least make Logan happy once he got better. After he was changed into the Alliance uniform he just stood at the borrowed locker, not knowing what to do, until Kaidan, also in uniform, walked up to him.

"Come on, let's get something to eat, we can wait there until your friend is feeling better," he offered.

At the mention of food Brady's stomach growled loudly "Lead on, my friend,"

Up in the mess hall, the two met up with Ashley, who had just gotten her food. Kaidan told Brady to sit while he got both of their meals.

"Don't be surprised if the Captain asks you if you want to join this crew, he just asked me," Ashley said around a mouthful of food.

Brady's eyes widened in surprise "Really? Did you accept?"

Ashley shot him a look like he was crazy "Of course! My unit's all KIA, I'm not gonna wait until the Alliance screws me with some bullshit assignment,"

Further discussion was cut short by Kaidan's arrival bearing the food trays "How are they doing?" he inquired nodding his head at the med-bay.

Ashley shrugged "I don't know, the doctor won't let me in," she replied with contempt in her voice.

"Dr. Chakwas is one of the best, if she's keeping you out, you'd better believe it's for a good reason," Kaidan reprimanded, he hated any negativity towards the ship's doctor.

"I'm more worried about Shepard to be honest," Brady admitted earning shocked stares from his companions "Logan got shot but he was still alert and moving, I have no doubts he'll make a full recovery. Shepard got knocked out cold by an explosion and who knows what was going on before that,"

Kaidan nodded and it fell silent for a minute before he replied "Shepard's tough, she survived Elysium, it will take a lot more than that to take her out. I've never seen anyone like her,"

Ashley smirked and nudged his foot with her own "Somebody's got a crush," she mocked in a sing song voice causing the biotic to blush.

"No... not at... it's nothing like that," he stammered causing Brady to laugh.

"You're worse than Lerman," he proclaimed which caught Ashley's interest.

"What do you mean by that?" she inquired scooting closer to him.

"Logan's track record with women has been shit for as long as I can remember. If it wasn't so funny I'd feel sorry for the bastard," Brady replied, a part of him feeling guilty for exposing this weakness.

Ashley frowned in thought "What, you mean he's bad in the sack or what?"

"No. Well he could be, I certainly wouldn't doubt it. He just can't get a girlfriend to save his ass, and the few that he does manage to take on dates end up leaving him after a couple weeks,"

Alenko gave Brady a hard stare "So instead of helping him, you mock him?"

Brady held up his hands in defense "I don't make fun of him, much,"

"So if I started flirting with him what would happen?" Ashley asked with a mischievous grin.

Brady waved his hand to indicate Kaidan "Basically what he did when you accused him of having a crush on Shepard. He'd get flustered and stammer. Then he would just shut down completely and not talk to you ever again,"

"I know how I'm going to pass the time on this ship," Williams declared with a laugh and staring at the med bay.

Kaidan shot her a disapproving look "Ashley, don't," he warned before turning back to Brady "How are you with women then,"

Daniels shrugged "Okay, I guess. I've had more relationships than Logan and I know how to flirt without looking stupid, but they've all fallen apart. My longest one lasted two years but then she decided she didn't think it was worth having a military boyfriend,"

Kaidan grimaced "That's rough,"

"Screw her, if she can't stand behind your decision then she obviously wasn't that loyal in the first place," Ashley said contempt laced her voice.

Brady glanced at her with raised eyebrows "Touchy subject?"

Instead of replying she just went back to her food, a slight red tinge on her cheeks.

Further conversation was interrupted by Chakwas exiting the med-bay "You can come in now, but keep quiet,"

As the three got up and made their way towards the bay Anderson rounded the corner causing the trio to stop and salute. Anderson saluted back "At ease. Lieutenant Daniels, I need to speak with you in my office,"

Brady gulped "Yes,sir," and followed the Captain away.

Logan was laying with his upper body inclined slightly so he could mess with his omni-tool until, when Ashley and Kaidan entered. Both of them walked straight to Shepard's bed and leaned over to study her.

"How is she?" Kaidan asked.

"Physically she's perfectly fine, but she's been having unusual brain activity," Chakwas responded.

Ashley rounded the bed to study the equipment "The explosion didn't affect her at all?"

Chakwas shook her head "Her shields and armor deflected any debris. I've only had to clean a few scrapes from bullets,"

"Good, I hope she wakes up soon. This was all my fault," Kaidan declared.

Chakwas lightly swatted him on the wrist "Don't start with that now. You had no idea what the beacon would do, Shepard was doing what she had to,"

An awkward silence filled the med-bay for a few moments "I'm fine by the way! Don't worry about me," Logan called from his bed.

Ashley turned to the soldier with a wicked smile on her face "Oh, I'm glad you're alright. I wouldn't want that handsome face of yours getting to scratched up,"

Logan's face immediately went red and he started to spew incoherent sentences.

"It's bad enough you took rounds to those abs," she continued unmercifully "but I guess I can forgive that as long as nothing's happened to your nice as-"

"Ashley! Enough," Kaidan ordered, saving Logan from the torture.

Ashley gave a sigh of dejection "You're no fun, Alenko,"

Chakwas just shook her head "Logan, why don't you lie down now. Your medicine should be kicking in soon," she ordered. Logan nodded and rolled over on his side facing away from the group and in seconds his breathing changed to indicate he had passed out.

/

/

"I'm sorry to inform you that your whole unit has been KIA, Daniels," Anderson stated with a genuine sympathetic look in his eyes.

Brady stared at the floor, fighting the emotions that boiled. He took a deep breath and swallowed "The best I can say is that hey died for a great cause, and that I will personally never forget them,"

The Captain nodded "That's all anyone can ask. That's not the only reason I called you in here, though. Like Chief Williams, you have no CO to answer to now. Normally I would have to send you back to Earth until you can get reassigned, but if you want I get make a few calls and have you reassigned to the Normandy,"

"What about Logan?" Brady asked.

"He will be getting the same offer once he's healed," Anderson replied.

"Then I accept," Brady proclaimed as he stood.

Anderson smiled and shook the Lt's hand "Excellent, report to Lieutenant Alenko first thing on the next morning cycle. For now go see your friends in the med-bay. I'll be by later after I've made the rounds,"

Brady nodded and saluted "Aye, sir,"

Brady could hardly contain his excitement. Crap assignment after crap assignment and now he was here, serving on the most advance ship in the alliance. He was sure Logan would accept the offer to join too, which made the deal that much sweeter. Part of him felt bad that their other friend from the old days, Stephen, couldn't be serving with them. Thinking of him reminded Brady that he needed to inform him of Jake's death. None of them knew Jake before their military career but in basic they became friends with the engineer. The guy was a wizard with tech and it showed in his work, but his affiliation with Logan, Brady, and Stephen kept him from going far in the ranks. Despite being told he could easily have his own squad if he ditched the trio, he kept hanging out with them saying _'He'd rather be a subordinate in a group he trusts than a leader of a squad he doesn't'. _

Brady walked to the sleeper pods to give him privacy and activated his omni-tool and hit call on Stephen's name.

After a few seconds his face appeared looking tired and when he spoke it sounded like he just woke up "B-Dag? What's up man?"

Brady couldn't help but smile at the use of his old nickname but the smile disappeared from his face after a second "Dox, I got some bad news man,"

/

/

**A/N: That's it for 2. Please review!**


	3. Chapter 3

"Head up to the bridge and tell Joker to bring us into the dock. Lerman, I need to talk to you," Anderson ordered his XO and Sgt Lerman who both had recovered from their respective ailments. Shepard's head was still pounding slightly as she saluted the Captain, and being questioned as soon as she woke up didn't help. Not that she would complain out loud, she was tougher than that and she needed to keep the image up. Out in the mess hall Kaidan greeted her and the two chatted for a quick minute with him revealing that Ashley and Brady had both joined the crew, and that Logan was going to get the same offer. That news cheered her up, the deaths of their squads on Eden Prime was bad enough, they didn't deserve to sit back on Earth waiting to be reassigned. Their skills would also served the Normandy well. Shepard didn't know much about Ashley or Logan, but Brady's skill with a sniper rifle was well known throughout the Alliance. He was also the first human to be sent to an alien unit to train an up and coming batch of snipers. An asari squad to be exact, and the asari had been more than impressed with his work. After leaving Kaidan to his own devices she headed up the stairs to the CIC, where she ran into Navigator Pressly, who expressed his relief that she had recovered. She thanked the older officer and continued on towards the bridge where Joker's hands flew across the monitors in front of him.

"Great timing, commander, get to see the taxpayer's money at work," the snarky pilot said as Shepard stopped next to his seat.

/

/

Down in the hangar Brady was finishing putting his Mantis back together, having finished giving it a much needed cleaning. As he shut his locker the elevator descended to his floor and Logan stepped off and immediately made his way towards Brady.

The Sgt was fighting a smile, Brady could tell having known the man for most of his life "What you need, Lerman?" he asked smiling himself.

"I just got offered to join the Normandy," Logan replied leaning up against a locker.

Brady nodded "And?"

"I declined. This doesn't seem like my kinda gig. I think I'd be better off serving a colony like Feros or Elysium," Logan said nonchalantly.

"Logan, I've known you for, regretfully, 17 years. I know when you're full of shit," Brady responded with a laugh.

Logan fought to keep a straight face but in the end started cracking up "Yeah, yeah. I accepted. This is awesome! The most advanced warship in the Alliance fleet, and we're serving on it!"

The Sgt's enthusiasm was so infectious that soon Brady was laughing along side of him. The two shot the shit for a few more minutes before Logan's mood turned somber.

"I guess we should tell Stephen about Jake," He said as he pulled their fallen comrade's dog tags from his pocket "and send these back to his family,"

"I already told Stephen. He's relieved to hear that you're okay," Brady replied while staring at the dog tags. Logan only nodded as a response.

Further conversation was cut short by the PA system "Lieutenant Daniels and Sergeant Lerman, report to the bridge airlock,"

Brady shrugged and sighed "Duty calls,"

"I'll give these dog tags to Captain Anderson, he'll make sure they get back," Logan proclaimed, placing them back in his pocket and heading to the elevator.

When they reached the airlock Shepard, Ashley, and Kaidan were waiting for them "Anderson went ahead to the human embassy, come on," Shepard ordered as she stepped into the lock with the team following suite.

As the elevator descended Kaidan spoke up "Brady, you trained with a squad of asari snipers, what was that like?"

"It was an awesome experience. I could tell they were a talented group of individuals from the get go," Brady replied with a thoughtful look.

"I bet. It makes me proud to say that the asari got to train with the best human sniper in the galaxy," Kadain declared and patted Daniels on the back.

"Yeah we shot some guns, but I was referring to their 'close quarters' skills," Brady countered which caused Logan to double over with laughter.

Ashley snorted in disgust which only caused the Sgt to laugh harder while Shepard shook her head with a hint of a smile playing at her lips.

After exiting the elevator they took the citadel rabid transit to the embassies, where Ambassador Udina was talking with the council. Brady, Logan, Ashley, and Kaidan didn't really pay attention to what the Ambassador was saying, but were instead marveling at the size and beauty of the Citadel. The two younger soldiers had never been to the Citadel before, so every thing about it was an adventure. Their site seeing was cut short by the Ambassador.

"Who are these two?" Udina asked as Brady and Logan turned from the balcony. Apparently a whole conversation had been taking place because the group was staring at the pair.

"Lieutenant Daniels and Sergeant Lerman, they were also stationed on Eden Prime," Shepard interjected "They helped repel the attack,"

Udina stared at the two for a second with a look of scrutiny "Were they present when the beacon was destroyed?"

Shepard glanced back at the pair before answering "Yes, but neither of them had anything to do with it,"

The Ambassador looked as though he was going to say something to them but instead turned to Anderson and signaled for him to follow. Before following the Captain instructed the team to meet them at the council meeting in two hours.

"And that's why I hat politicians," Ashley muttered as the door shut.

Shepard gave a light chuckle "Come on, we've got time to kill before the meeting, what do you guys want to do?"

"What _don't_ we want to do?" Logan asked incredulously "Any good bars up here that aren't filled with uptight pricks?"

Brady snorted "Is getting drunk before visiting the council a good idea, Logan?"

The Sgt shrugged "We don't have to get drunk, but one or two drinks couldn't hurt,"

Kaiden chuckled as he patted Logan's shoulder "Only bars up here will be filled with politicians. You have to go to the wards for the common people bars,"

Shepard sighed "You two can go get a couple of drinks, us three will meet the council, I have a feeling the more of us there is in the meeting the worse off we'll be. Just stay out of trouble," she ordered.

"Yes, ma'am," Brady acknowledged as he turned towards his friend with a childlike grin on his face "Let's go,"

The pair chatted as they walked through the presidium, ignoring the stares they received from wearing full armor and bearing weapons. They got stopped a few times by C-Sec but after showing them their pass they received from Udina, they were let go. The elevator to the wards arrived and the two, plus three asari, stepped on.

Brady looked to his partner and winked before turning to the asari trio "What party are you fine ladies off to?"

Two of the aliens blushed a deep blue while one answered "My sisters and I were on our way to the markets for supplies,"

"How about joining me and my friend here for some drinks," the Lt continued.

Another asari spoke up "Sorry, but our boss needs these supplies right away,"

Logan thought for a second "How about we help you do, then you can join us?" he offered.

"I think that could work, thank you," the first asari responded.

Brady laughed excitedly "Great! What's your names?"

The first asari held out her hand "I'm Anaia," she next indicated the other who had spoke "that's Aiora, and the quit one's Alya,"

Logan chuckled at the pattern "All A's, eh? I'm Staff Sergeant Logan Lerman,"

"Lieutenant Brady Daniels," Brady saluted.

Anaia eyes grew slightly bigger and she smiled seductively "Ohhh, I was hoping you two were military, and not some rag tag mercenaries,"

Logan gave a confused look "What the Alliance insignia wasn't a giveaway?" he proclaimed as he indicated the bars on his standard issue armor.

"You could have stolen it," she countered with a smile. The five exited the elevator and made their way through the shops, chatting idly, stopping now and then when one of the girls found one of their items. They were passing by a merchant when a fully suited figure charged around the corned and ran smack dab into Aiora, causing both to tumble to the floor. As Logan and Brady rushed to help, they discovered that the assailant was a quarian, female to be exact, dressed in purple colored garb. Brady hauled the suited alien up rather roughly, while Logan gently assisted the asari to her feet.

The Quarian began squirming in Brady's grasp "Sorry, I'm so sorry, please let me go," she begged.

The Lt struggled to keep a hold of the woman "Now hold on just a minute. You just ran full sprint into my friend here, you can at least give an explanation,"

Anaia stepped forward "Check your pockets Aiora, she probably stole something," she said with disdain.

"I didn't!" the quarian protested "I'm in a hurry and wasn't paying attention to where I was going, please let me go,"

Logan noticed how bad she was shaking and her breathe was rather ragged "What, or who, were you running from?"

Anaia spoke up again "Probably from her previous victim,"

Brady shot the asari a disproving look "We can't just assume she was stealing. If I let go of you, do you promise not to run off?" he asked the young quarian.

The alien looked back the way she came then nodded. Brady dropped his hands but stayed near in case she tried to bolt.

"Now, why are-"

"There she is, get her!" a voice shouted. They turned to see a mixed group of turians and humans sprinting towards them drawing weapons.

Brady instinctively dove behind cover, while Logan tackled the quarian into cover as well. The three asari screamed and threw themselves to the ground in panic. Bullets riddled their cover as the two soldiers unfolded their weapons. Around them civilians screamed and ran for shelter.

Brady activated his radio "Lerman, check your fire, we don't want any unwanted casualties. I count seven of the bastards,"

"Roger," came the reply. Logan popped up from cover with his revenant in hand and loosed a quick burst of bullets at the attackers that managed to wound one before ducking down again "They haven't got any shields," he informed Brady. Brady swung around the merchant stand and fired a round from his mantis, taking the life of one who was standing in the open. Logan popped up again and put his sights on one trying to get to a closer vantage point. The Sgt pinned the trigger and there was one less offender. Next, as Logan reloaded, the quarian poked up from cover and took out the wounded merc with a well placed shotgun blast

Logan nodded in approval "Nice shot,"

Another round from the sniper rifle took an assailant in the chest, leaving just three. The leader snarled in frustration and stood planning to spend his next clip on Brady's position, but without shields he was laid to waste quickly with Logan's modded revenant. The remaining two saw their odds of survival plummet to none and fled. Brady took out one more with his mantis before switching out to the vindicator and giving pursuit. Logan made to follow but only got a few feet when he saw the quarian take off in the opposite direction.

Logan looked back and forth at the fleeing quarian and merc before deciding to pursue the former.

Brady weaved in and out of the crowds trying not to lose the mercenary. He wanted answers and this guy was going to give him some one way or another. As the merc tired, the gap between the two grew shorter and shorter, with much better trained and conditioned soldier catching up fast. The mercenary ran to a rapid transit unit and started to enter a destination but a burst of bullets took out the terminal. Drawing his pistol the merc turned towards the slowly approaching soldier.

"It's over, surrender and you wont be harmed," Brady offered keeping his rifle trained on him.

The merc glanced behind him at the heavy traffic "Bullshit," he replied as he turned and did a short run jump into traffic. His body soared for a second before a speeding truck ended his life with a splat. The Lt sighed in frustration and folded his vindicator. He stood observing the traffic for a while before hearing C-Sec sirens in the distance and decided it'd be best if he got out of there. After entering the elevator back to the presidium he radioed Logan.

"Any luck catching the quarian?" he inquired with crossed fingers.

"Nah, man, she was too fast for me. Quarian legs are strong!" he exclaimed.

Brady punched the wall in defeat "Dammit. The one I was chasing jumped into traffic, meet me at the human embassy,"

When the Lt got there Logan was already lounging on a cough with drink in hand. Brady dropped next to him with a sigh and the two sat in silence for a while.

Logan was the first to speak up "I wonder what happened to those girls,"

"Last I saw them they were huddled together on the ground. Dumb asses didn't even attempt to run for cover," Brady replied.

Logan shrugged as he took a sip of his drink "They were only civilians, they aren't used to being shot at. They'll be shook up for a while but they'll be alright. Besides the quarian would have been swiss cheese had I not forced her down, and she was pretty damn handy with that shotgun,"

"What are the chances the girls still down for drinks later?" Brady asked with a smile.

Logan chuckled "Slim to none after that. Good riddance anyway, I don't want to date them if they're racist,"

Brady snorted "Who said anything about dating. I was just looking for a one nighter before we leave again," he countered while Logan rolled his eyes.

Suddenly both their radios activated "Brady, Logan, meet us at this med clinic," came Shepard's voice as their omni-tools lit up as they received coordinates.

"Roger that, ma'am," the Lt replied before the link was killed "Duty calls,"

The pair reached the clinic a few minutes behind Shepard, who nodded at them as they stepped out of the taxi.

"How'd the meeting go?" Logan asked.

Shepard snorted at the memory of that disaster "About as bad as you could expect. The council ignored all of our evidence,"

Brady indicated the clinic "So what are we doing here?"

"There's a turian here who might be able to help us. His name's Garrus and he's a c-sec officer that was in charge of investigating Saren," the commander replied as she activated the door.

The door swung open to the doctor in charge being interrogated and a turian sneaking around the counter. The thug doing the questioning noticed Shepard and her crew and drew his gun while grabbing the doctor.

"Who are you?" he demanded while tightening his grip on the terrified woman.

"Let her go!" Shepard countered. Suddenly the turian swung around the corner and blew the side of the thug's head out with a well placed shot. As the other thugs scrambled for cover Brady did a running dive over the counter, tackling the doctor out of the line of fire. The three unshielded punks were no match for the well trained soldiers and before long they lay dead.

Garrus nodded at the Shepard "Good timing commander, you gave me a perfect shot at the bastard,"

The four subordinates knew exactly what the commander's response was going to be "What were you thinking? You could have hit the hostage!" she reprimanded.

Garruse was taken aback for a second "But I... Dr Michel are you okay?"

The doctor fixed her hair as she responded "I'm fine, thank you. All of you,"

"What were those men after?" Brady inquired.

Behind him Logan muttered "More importantly, how did the Garrus get in here without them noticing?"

Ignoring the Sgt, Michel explained that they were after a quarian she had assisted a few days ago. At the mention of a quarian Brady and Logan traded glances but kept quiet for the time being.

"She must have evidence on Saren," Garrus' outburst brought the pair back to the present.

The doctor continued on about Fist and the shadow broker, revealing that she was being set up.

"It's time we payed Fist a visit," Ashley commented.

"It's your show Shepard, but I want to bring Saren in as well," Garrus offered.

"Welcome aboard Garrus, but keep the heroics to a low, we work as a team. Never endanger the lives of civilians" Shepard shook the turian's hand.

Garrus nodded and rubbed his mandibles in thought "You know we aren't the only ones after Fist. There's a krogan bounty hunter named Wrex who's after him as well,"

"A krogan, eh? Could be useful, they're tough sons of bitches, remember our buddy Quarr?" Logan piped up nudging Brady, who nodded with a smile on his face.

Garrus glanced at the two before continuing "Fist accused him of making threats so c-sec brought him in to have a word. If we hurry we can catch him before he leaves,"

Shepard glanced around at her team for a moment "Logan, take Kaidan with you and go to c-sec and pick up that krogan. Brady you're with Ashly, Garrus, and me, we'll go 'talk' with fist," she order and received confirmation from each of them.

Before leaving they all synced their omni-tool radios and wished each other luck. At the set of elevators the group split off into their respective squads.

Logan and Kaidan stepped into the elevator that led down to the c-sec academy. The two chatted throughout the slow trip and once it reached the bottom they stepped out to see their krogan being interrogated by a human.

"Witnesses claim they saw you making threats in Fist's bar. This is your one warning, Wrex, stay away from him,"

The krogan snorted and stepped closer to the human "You should warn Fist, I will kill him,"

The officer sighed in frustration "Do you want me to arrest you?"

Wrex chuckled in amusement "I want you to try," he challenged before noticing the Logan and Kaidan staring. Without waiting for dismissal he shouldered his way past the officer who yelled for him to leave.

The krogan stopped next the duo and stared Logan in the eyes "Do I know you, humans?"

Logan matched his stare and with an authoritative voice answered "Sergeant Lerman. We're going after Fist, thought you'd like to come along,"

"We're both warriors, Lerman. Out of respect I'll give you fair warning, I'm going to kill Fist," Wrex said and stepped closer to Logan.

"Fine by me," Logan shrugged "As long as you allow us to talk to him first, he's all yours,"

"Ever hear the saying 'seek the enemy of your enemy, and you'll find a friend'," Wrex asked and extended his hand.

"My life motto, haha," Logan replied with a chuckle as he shook the krogan's hand

Wrex rolled his shoulders and neck "Let's go, I'd hate to keep Fist waiting,"

The three of them hurried back to the elevator and made their way back towards the club. They cut through the markets, by Wrex's suggestion, and soon were exiting the door to the gentlemen's club. Before stepping out, though, Wrex grabbed Logan's shoulder and pulled him back. Before the Sgt could speak the krogan nodded at the alley. A sizable squad of mercenaries came running out and turned down to the entrance of the Chora's Den. Kaidan and Logan glanced at each other and the Sgt reached to activate his radio. Before he could, however, it activated and Shepard's voice came from the other end.

"Logan, come in, do you read?"

Logan reached up to press on the earpiece so he could hear her more clearly "I read you, Shepard. We just made it to the club, you've got a load of badies coming up behind you. Give us the word and we'll hit them from behind," he suggested.

"Belay that, the quarian's meeting an agent in the alley sent by Saren. Get there before they kill her and take off with the data," she ordered as gun fire could be heard in the background "I can take care of these guys," she added as if sensing Logan's worry.

Logan sighed but confirmed the order and the three set off down the alley.

/

/

Tali'Zorah's run of bad luck was becoming a nuisance. Ever since coming to the Citadel she's been shot, chased, and accused of stealing. She guess she should have expected this, being a quarian and all. Now she was in a secluded alley with a turian and two salarians, who were supposedly agents of the shadow broker. The turian, who was also the leader, stepped forward.

"You got the data?" he asked as he eyed her up and down with.

"Where's the shadow broker, where's fist?" she asked, her instincts screaming at her to run.

The turian chuckled and proceeded to run his hand up her arm "They'll be here,"

Tali shoved the hand off her, she decided this was enough "No way, the deals off,"

The turian turned to his salarian companions and nodded. The two pulled out their weapons and advanced on the quarian. Thinking quickly Tali pulled out a grenade and tossed it a the feet of the salarians and dove to cover. The blast knocked them to the ground but didn't kill them.

"Oh, keelah, now what," she muttered and pulled out her shotgun. As she stood up out of cover a ball of blue energy flew by and impacted one the salarians, throwing him roughly back against the wall. Tali whirled around to see two humans and a biotically glowing krogan charging her way. One of the humans suddenly glowed blue as well and he extended his hand out causing the blue energy to engulf the other salarian and lift him a good ten feet off the ground. The krogan fired his shotgun killing the suspended salarian. The turian dove over Tali's cover and kicked her to the ground, but before he could continue his assault he was knocked to the ground by the but of a rifle. The non-biotic human stood over the turian and traded the rifle for a pistol.

"You working for Saren?" he asked, his voice dripping with hate. The turian kept quit and continued to stare. Logan shrugged and pulled the trigger, putting a round through the turian's head.

Tali stared in shock at the brutality of the execution she just witnessed. Kaidan helped her up and examined her for injuries.

"You alright," he inquired in a caring voice.

The shock wore off and was replaced by anger "Fist set me up! He-" she stopped dead as she realized who the other human was and where she had seen him before.

And judging by the human's smirk, he recognized her as well "Hello again, mind not running off this time?"

**/\/\**

**A/N: Reviews, follows, and favoriting motivate me to write faster, thank you.**


	4. Chapter 4

Shepard and the others dashed through the alley. Up ahead she could see Logan, Kaidan, and a krogan standing in a circle around a female quarian. Kaidan cut her off from running up to the quarian.

"Logan apparently knows her, he says him and Brady met her earlier today. The korgan's name's Wrex," he informed her then turned back to the others.

Shepard stepped forward to catch the quarian's attention "Commander Shepard, Alliance Navy. What's your name?" she asked gently.

The quarian glanced around at the group before answering "Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, are you going to kill me?"

The commander was taken aback at the blatant question "No, I hear you have evidence against a turian spectre?"

Tali looking at Logan for a second "Yeah, but not here. Is there somewhere safe we can go?"

"How about the human embassy? Udina will want to see this anyway," Brady suggested.

Shepard nodded and strode past them towards the end of the alley, the others following in her wake, with Logan and Brady on either side of Tali to discourage her from running off again.

Kaidan looked over to the two young soldiers "So how did you guys meet her?"

Brady stole a glance at the qaurian and answered "We were in the markets when she literally ran into us. She had some people after her so we took care of them. Afterward she ran off,"

"You're welcome, by the way. That's twice today I've saved your life," Logan said pointedly at Tali.

Shepard spoke up from the head of the group "Why did you run away after they saved you, Tali?"

"I didn't know who they were. I thought they were more mercs trying to kill me," she answered with a shrug.

Logan threw his arms out in exasperation "How does nobody notice the giant ass Alliance emblem on our armor?" he complained earning a laugh from Brady.

Tali stared at him for a moment before continuing "Besides, your _company_ made it clear they didn't want me around,"

Ashley shot Brady and Logan a confused look "Company?"

Logan blushed while Brady chuckled and answered "Yeah, we were planning on getting some drinks with these asari, but the firefight kinda ruined our plans,"

"Asari?" she snorted "Why am I not surprised?"

Garrus piped up from the back "Because there's very few things that compare to the beauty of an asari,"

Brady shrugged and nodded "He's got a point,"

Shepard was smiling as she spoke up again "What's wrong with humans, Daniels?"

Brady's head sprang to attention "Nothing!" he answered a bit too quickly.

Ashley spotted Logan's furiously blushing face and grinned mischievously "Which do you prefer, Logan?"

Logan glanced over to see Ashley, Shepard, and Tali all staring at him "Well.. I..eh,"

"Surely you wouldn't choose an _asari_ over a human," she continued mercilessly. At this point the poor Sgt was beyond forming coherent sentences and his face felt like it was on fire. Still Ashley didn't let up "An alien is more appealing to you that a hot redhead like Shepard?"

"That's enough, Williams," Kaidan intervened, he hated this kind of teasing and had grown to like the Sgt. He glanced at Shepard and was astonished to see she was blushing slightly as well.

The rest of the trip passed uneventfully, with Logan not saying a word, and soon they were standing outside the human embassy.

Shepard turned to her growing squad "Tali, Ashley, Kaidan, and I will talk with Udina. The rest of you can take a break. I'll call you when we're done," she ordered. Having the full squad in there was unnecessary and would take up too much room.

Fifteen minutes later the latter crew found themselves in an expensive bar right down the hall from the executor's office. They almost got refused service, being in full armor with weapons and bringing a krogan being a couple of the reasons the bartender cited, but in the end Logan forwarded some extra credits. The group chatted idly while nursing their drinks, ignoring the stares from every patron in the bar.

"So, Wrex, what are you going to do now?" Brady asked the krogan.

Wrex thought for a second "Join up with you guys, I guess,"

Logan turned to the battlemaster in surprise "Really? I'd think a human military ship would get boring pretty fast for someone like you,"

Wrex shook his head "You're going after Saren. From what I hear, he has an army backing him. Are you complaining that a krogan wants to fight with you?"

Logan held up his hands "No, no. I think it's awesome working with a krogan again. But we don't know if we're going to get the green light to pursue Saren yet,"

"You'll get permission if the council aren't as stupid as they act," the krogan replied.

Brady chuckled and said "I'm more surprised that you want to join us weirdos,"

Garrus replied "I'll have to admit working with humans has been stranger than I thought, but you get results and I can't argue with that,"

"What's weird about the way we work?" Logan challenged.

"For starters, you two don't seem to take anything seriously," the turian responded indicating the two humans.

"I'll take things seriously when the situation warrants it, but other than that, why bother?" Brady countered "And you've been joking around just as much as we have, Vakarian,"

Garrus just shrugged in response and returned to his drink. Logan swiveled around on his stool to face the room, which caused the patrons to suddenly turn their gazes away and become very interested in their drinks, and leaned against the bar. Logan got lost in thought for a minute before something clicked in his mind.

"That turian spectre on Eden Prime, Nihlus, did you know him, Garrus?" Logan asked.

"Only in passing. I know he once tried to court my sister," he replied.

"Sister?" Brady suddenly interjected, sounding way too interested and Logan jokingly leaned in exaggerating fascination at the admittance.

Garrus shot them an unamused look which did nothing to deter the humans "Yes, sister. They were in the same unit during their mandatory military service. He didn't try anything until he became spectre though, tried to use his status to impress her," Garrus smiled as he recollected "He obviously didn't know a thing about her if he thought she'd be impressed. She turned him down, stating that our fathers' view on spectres would just cause trouble,"

Logan frowned "What does your dad have against spectres?"

Garrus shook his head and replied "He's a strictly by the books man. Always had been. He doesn't like that the spectres get free reign over the law,"

"And you?" Brady pressed "What do you think of spectres,"

"They're necessary. They get to do their job without regulations getting in the way, who wouldn't want that," the turian replied.

"Rules are there for a reason," Logan countered "We throw them out, then we're no better than the man we're pursuing,"

Garrus shook his head "I shouldn't have to cut my way through miles of red tape to take down a convicted killer,"

Logan swiveled around to face the turian "That red tape is there for a reason. What if there's hostages or he's got a bomb?"

Garrus didn't answer and instead finished his drink. Brady's omni-tool chimed indicating he'd received a message "Shepard's on her way to meet with the council, says to meet her at the tower,"

The group reluctantly rose out of their seats, paid their tabs, and exited.

The four got to the top just as Shepard came back down from steps and judging by the grin on her face, the meeting went well.

Brady couldn't help but smile at the beaming commander "So?"

"You boys are looking at the first human spectre," she replied holding her arms out as if to present herself.

Logan's eyes widened "Wow! Congratulations, commander," he exclaimed as he shook her hand.

"I can't think of anybody who deserves it more," Brady added, also shaking the commander's hand.

Shepard chuckled "Thanks, but we've got a lot of work ahead of us. Anderson is meeting us at the Normandy,"

The squad had to split up due to the compact elevator with Shepard, Logan, Garrus, and Tali taking the first ride down.

"You know, before I joined c-sec, I was scouted as a possible spectre candidate," Garrus said, breaking the silence.

Logan and Shepard turned back to stare at the turian, the former scoffed "And you chose c-sec over that?"

Garrus shook his head "Only because of my father. Though now I wish I had tried out,"

"You can't spend your whole life trying to live up to your parent's expectations. You've got to be your own person," Logan countered, then added "but I have no room to judge. Only reason I'm in the military is because of my dad,"

After exiting the elevator the group went ahead to the docks, knowing that the others wouldn't be that far behind. Captain Anderson and Udina were waiting for them outside the Normandy's airlock when they reached the top.

Udina shot Adnerson a look then turned towards Shepard "I've got some big news, commander. Captain Anderson has stepped down as commanding officer of the Normandy, the ship is now yours,"

Shepard nearly took a step back and looked to the captain in shock. Anderson held up a hand to stop her from speaking "You know the crew and you need a ship for your mission," he explained with a tinge of regret in his voice.

Logan shot Udina a look of disdain "I'm sure you had nothing with this, right?" he snarled sarcastically.

"Stand down, Sergeant," Anderson ordered, though there was a smile playing on his lips. The rest of the conversation was less confrontational, and after Udina took his leave, Shepard talked with Anderson for a few minutes before the rest of the team arrived. After boarding the crew was squad was dismissed, with the commander promising a tour to the aliens. Brady and Logan chose to show Tali and Garrus where they could put their things. Just as they reached the lockers the overhead speakers came to life.

"This is Commander Shepard speaking. We have our orders: find Saren before he finds the conduit. I won't lie to you crew, this mission isn't going to be easy. For too long our species has stood apart from the others. It's time for us to step up and do our part for the rest of the galaxy. Time to show them what humans are made of," at that Logan and Brady exchanged fist bumps "Our enemy knows we're coming. When we go into the Traverse, Saren's followers will be waiting for us. But we'll be ready for them too. Humanity needs to do this. Not just for our own sake, but for the sakes of every other species in Citadel space. Saren must be stopped, and I promise you all, we _will_ stop him!"

"Hoo-rah!" Logan shouted as all the other humans cheered.

A few hours later found the crew on a course for Therum to pick up Dr. T'soni. With the exception of Wrex and Logan, the squad had been given duties to keep them occupied in the mean time. Shepard couldn't find anything for Logan to do since nothing mechanically needed to be fixed on the mako, and Wrex made it very clear he was only there to fight. Brady was working next to Ashley, doing maintenance on the squad's armor, making sure the omni-tool interfacing was in working order. The two chatted as they toiled away, both being able to do their work in their sleep. Logan sat alone in the mess hall, watching a vid on his omni-tool. Shepard rounded the corner to see the Sgt staring past the vid, lost in his thoughts, and chuckled.

"What are you watching?" she asked loudly, snapping him out of his daze.

"Old video my dad recorded of my first land race, I've watched it a thousand times," he admitted as he refocused on the video.

Shepard leaned over to watch, seeing miniature vehicles bounce around a track and hearing a voice cheering on "How'd you do?"

Logan chuckled at the memory "Eighth outta twenty. I was so disappointed in myself,"

Shepard brow furrowed and she rotated her head to stare at him "Eighth isn't bad for your first race," she said.

He shrugged and said "I was nine years old. If I wasn't first, I wasn't happy. As I grew up, though, I learned to enjoy the competition and not worry about my place,"

Shepard nodded "Is this what helped you beat the mako record?" she asked.

"Oh, yeah. I'm actually surprised the record was so low," Logan admitted with a chuckle.

"I was one who used to hold the record," Shepard deadpanned.

"Oh... well... that's not bad for a.. I mean-"

The commander cracked up and held up a hand "I'm only joking, Lerman. Maybe you can show me a few pointers sometime?" she offered.

Logan took a deep breathe to settle his nerves but his blush stayed "Yeah, I could do that,"

Shepard patted him on the shoulder "I'd appreciate it, because if I have to hear one more woman driver joke, I might go mental,"

The humor completely settled down the Sgt and his complexion returned to its normal color "It'd be my pleasure," he declared with a grin.

"It's settled then. I'll add you to the ground squad for Therum," she said then sighed "Well, I better go check in with our non-human friends. Talk to you later, Lerman,"

"See you later, Shepard," Logan responded and restarted his vid.

Ashley paused in her work to glance over to Brady, who had, a while ago, stopped talking due to concentration.

"What do you think of Garrus, Tali, and Wrex joining the crew?" she asked.

Brady's looked up from his work, his eyes darting between Garrus and Wrex before resting back on Ashley "I think it's great. They're a talented bunch, I can't wait to see them in action," he declared.

"This is the most advanced warship in space. I don't think they should be allowed to go poking around at their leisure," Ashley responded as she stared across at Garrus, who was calibrating the weapon systems of the mako.

The Lt shrugged as he continued his work "This ship was produced by the mixed efforts of humans and turians. It's only fair that they get someone on here,"

"Okay, but what about Wrex and the quarian?" she countered.

"_Tali_ is a wizard when it comes to ships. She's not going to steal the Normandy if that's what you're worried about," he replied "and as for Wrex, take a look for yourself, does he look interested in the Normandy?" Both humans glanced over at the krogan who was leaning up against the wall, staring into space.

Ashley shook her head "I'm not saying we shouldn't trust them, but we should at least limit their access to the Normandy's systems,"

Brady dropped the helmet he was configuring and turned to stare at his companion "I don't know if your heard Adams, but he said ever since Tali jumped on the terminal the Normandy's been running even better than even he could have imangined. And I highly doubt Garrus is going to fuck with the weapons of the vehicle he himself will be using,"

The woman continued as if she didn't hear him "Now we're on our way to pick up an asari, something I'm sure you're excited about,"

He chuckled at that comment "I'll admit it brightened my day," his laughter increased at the murderous glare Ashley was shooting him "Come on lighten up,"

Ashley fell silent, seething at his comments. At that moment the elevator arrived bearing Shepard, who walked straight over to Garrus to see how he was settling in. The chief decided to ask her about the aliens when she got around to them.

The Normandy was ten minutes out from Therum when Shepard called her ground squad to the hangar. Said squad consisted of Shepard, Garrus, and Logan. The three piled into the mako, with Logan driving, Shepard riding shotgun, and Garrus in the gunner seat. The hangar bay ramp lowered as the ship descended through Therum's atmosphere. A green light flashed on Shepard's monitor and she turned to Logan and nodded. The Sgt slammed the gas and sent the mako down the ramp and out into a free fall. Logan sat back and let the tank's VI take over to guide the mako in for a smooth landing, after which all controls were given back to the soldier.

"Alright, Shepard, time for your first lesson," he declared and Shepard grinned.

The squad exited the mako, having come to a point in the road where the tank wouldn't fit. Before pressing on Shepard activated the recovery beacon on the mako, making sure it wouldn't get left behind.

"I'd like to say that was a informative lesson, but regretfully gunfire doesn't mix well with driving instructions," Garrus joked as he pulled out his M-92 Mantis.

Shepard laughed as she unfolded her assault rifle as well "Sorry, Lerman, I'll have to agree with him,"

"No excuses," Logan replied "I expect better next time, Shepard,"

The trio became serious as the moved along, keeping their eyes trained for movement. As they came over a hill they spotted a group of geth milling about ahead, and dropped into cover before being spotted.

Over the comms Shepard issued orders "Garrus takes the first shot. Lerman and I will follow up with a quick volley,"

The two nodded in confirmation and the turian popped up from cover and sighted down a geth trooper. One squeeze of the trigger and the synthetics head was blow clean off. As Garrus dropped back down Logan and Shepard stood and sprayed the scrambling geth with fire, eliminating one and damaging another.

"Sergeant, move up, Garrus and I'll cover you," Shepard ordered.

"On it," he replied as he scrambled to the next cover, with geth bullets bouncing of his shields or whizzing past. Shepard swung around the side and pinned the trigger, forcing the geth to relent their attack on Logan and take cover. Garrus fired another round, dispatching an advancing shock trooper. After reaching his target, Logan popped up and finished of the wounded geth and continued to spray rounds, allowing Shepard to move up. The three worked fluidly, eliminating synthetics and moving up without much trouble. Soon their were in a bowl shaped valley trading fire with heavy opposition. Logan popped up from cover to fire only to take a round to his chest, dropping him to the ground.

"Sniper!" Shepard cried out "Lerman, you alright?"

The Sgt scrambled to a crouching position and leaned against the boulder he was using as cover "It took out my shields but didn't penetrate the armor, I'll be fine," he coughed painfully before continuing "I'm gonna have a hell of a bruise though,"

Shepard sighed in relief "Garrus, take care of their marksmen,"

The turian nodded and swung out from cover and sighted down the sniper "Gotcha," he muttered before firing "You're all clear, Shepard,"

The team mopped up the rest of the opposition before moving on. As they approached the mine opening the sound of a ship filled the air, and a dropship hovered near the entrance. The trio scrambled for cover as geth troopers dropped out. Suddenly a loud thud shook the ground, and Shepard peeked around the corner.

"We've got a geth armature!" she called out to her squad.

"Fan-fucking-tastic!" Logan shouted in frustration.

Garrus overloaded the shields of the hulking synthetic before retreating behind cover as a blast from the armature slammed the ground where he was just standing. Shepard concentrated her fire on the armature as Logan and Garrus dealt with the geth troopers. The commander was tossed from cover by the force of an armature blast and as she recovered she saw it charging up another shot. Just as it was fired she was tackled to the side and it narrowly missed the two. Logan scrambled off her and grabbed her arm, pulling her to her feet and into cover.

"You alright, Shepard?" he shouted over his own gunfire.

Shepard nodded "Yeah, wind got knocked from me,"

"How do we take down this thing?" Garrus called out.

"Get its attention while I flank it," Shepard ordered. Logan and Garrus traded frantic glances before jumping into action. They circled away in the opposite direction Shepard went, trading covering fire duties as they move from cover to cover. Not that covering fire did much. The plan was working, the armature followed the two, seeing them as more as a threat than the lone human. As soon as it was completely turned away from her, Shepard pulled out two grenades and sprinted in an arc towards the synthetic. As she neared it she slid to a her knees and attached both explosives to the underside and scrambled back out and ran for cover. The explosion didn't finish of the armature but damaged it enough the combined fire from the squad finally defeated the synthetic. The team took a breather before heading into the mine. They met some opposition on the way down, but it did little to slow them down. They were taking an elevator down when it suddenly started to spark and ground to a halt. The team headed down the ramp and stopped in their tracks in front of a blue barrier to see an asari suspended in a bubble.

"Can you hear me out their, I'm trapped, I need help!" she cried frantically.

Logan shushed her "Keep it down, there's geth roaming around out here,"

Shepard waved him down "We'll try to help you but there's a barrier in the way,"

"Yes, I activated the barrier to keep the geth out, but I must have hit something because I became trapped in here," she explained.

"Sit tight," Shepard began, earning a snort from Logan "we'll figure something out,"

The team made their way down to the mining laser, eliminating the geth waiting for them. As they searched for something to use, Garrus studied the mining laser.

"If we activated this, I think it would clear away the rubble," he suggested. The commander nodded and he set about trying to crack the code to activate it. They didn't have to wait long before it sprang to life with a deafening roar, and after it settled there lay a perfect path to the inside. The trio made their way inside and activated an ancient elevator that took them up to the asari.

She turned her head, trying to look at them "How did you get past the barrier?"

Shepard deactivated the bubble as she answered "We used a mining laser,"

Liara dropped to the ground with a grunt "Of course, why didn't I think of that?"

Garrus stepped forward eying the asari suspiciously "Wait, can we trust her? She could be working with Saren,"

"I'm not working with that monster, I don't know what's gotten into my mother," she replied scornfully.

"The geth wouldn't be trying to kill her if she worked with Saren," Shepard reasoned and beckoned fore the asari to follow. The four made their way back to the elevator, but before they could activate it, however, they were nearly thrown from their feet by a violent rumble.

Liara looked around frantically "The mining laser must have triggered a seismic event!"

Shepard activated her radio "Joker, bring the Normandy to our signal. On the double, mister!" she ordered.

"He needs to get here faster," Liara cried out.

Logan placed a hand on her shoulder "If he's as good as he thinks he is, we'll be out of here no time,"

The elevator ascended as rocks dropped onto the platform. At the top a group of geth and a krogan blocked their path.

"Surrender, or don't, that would be more fun," the krogan ordered.

"Can't you see this place is falling apart?" Shepard shout in exasperation.

"Exciting, isn't it?" he replied with a sadistic grin.

Logan snarled as he trained his revenant on the krogan "It's your funeral, asshole!"

Before he could fire the krogan used biotics to throw Logan back into the terminal. Garrus and Shepard opened fire and dashed to cover, with the latter dragging Liara with her. Leaving the geth to deal with the three in cover, the krogan strode to the downed Sgt. As Logan picked himself off the ground he was floored again by a punch to the head. While the helmet absorbed the most of the attack, Logan's was still disoriented. The krogen then put the shotgun against the human's chest, but before he could fire he was thrown, biotically, into the column. Logan dove on the krogan's dropped shotgun, rolled to his feet, and fired right into the krogan's head, killing him instantly. The Sgt tossed the shotgun aside and ran to cover with the rest of his team, shaking his head to try and clear it.

"Thanks, Liara," he said to the asari, knowing she was the one who saved him since she was the only one of them that possessed biotics. With the krogan out of the way the rest of the opposition fell easily and the team sprinted towards the exit. Shepard was out in front when she paused and looked back in time to see a boulder come crashing down behind the squad.

"Move, move, move!" she shouted and ushered them ahead.

Garrus was the fastest of the four and therefore was the first to come flying out of the mine, followed by Logan and Liara, with Shepard bringing up the rear.

Logan started laughing from exhilaration "Holy shit! Can't believe we made it," he then noticed how shaken up their asari was "You alright, Liara?"

She nodded halfheartedly "I'm fine. I'm used to studying prothean relics, not having them collapse around me,"

Garrus piped up from ahead "Well you better get used to it, these humans love it,"

"I see," Liara replied, the joke going over her head.

Shepard rolled her eyes "Come on. Let's get the meeting over with so we can get Liara settled in.

"Will the rest of your crew accept someone like me?" the asari wondered out loud.

Logan chuckled and clapped Liara on the shoulder"Don't worry, there's someone on here that will be absolutely delighted to see you,"

**/\/\**

**A/N Please review! Thank you.**


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